Acera Surgical Inc., a bioscience startup developing wound-healing technology, has named a new leader.
The startup has hired Michael Finegan as its CEO, effective immediately. Finegan is taking on the new role from co-CEOs Agnès Rey-Giraud and Jake Wilson, who both will continue as board members of Acera.
Founded in 2013, Acera focuses on commercializing products it says are “designed to be structurally similar to human tissue” for wound healing and regenerative medical applications, including soft tissue repair. The company, which was born out of research conducted at Washington University, has received clearances from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for two product lines. Those product lines include Cerafix, which is designed to stop cerebrospinal fluid leakage, and Restrata, which helps heal wounds and burns.
"Acera has the potential to become the market leader in synthetic wound repair, and I'm confident that the company's next few years will see extraordinary success. I'm thrilled to be joining the company at this exciting time and honored to be joining a team of dedicated, caring employees who work every day to improve the health of patients facing serious medical conditions,” Finegan said.
Finegan joins Acera after having launched his own consulting firm last year. Prior to that, he was chief strategy officer at Lewisville, Texas-based medical device company Orthofix, where he launched a new biologics business unit that generated $75 million in annual revenue, Acera said. Finegan's career also include a 16-year stint working at Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX).
"Mike is well-known and well-respected in the industry. He excels at aligning his teams with strategic development goals and creating a culture of innovation, disciplined growth and rigorous attention to market needs. At the same time, Mike's focus never wavers from the patients' well-being that he and his teams serve,” Wilson said.
Acera, based in the Corporate Hill office campus in west St. Louis County, has more than 65 employees and says it has job openings in several areas, including sales, clinical, business analytics and product development.
